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Flipping Mini

Backflipping a mini? This sort of stunt isn’t usually Influx fodder, but watching the video we thought we’d share anyhow.

Rally driver Guerlain Chicherit and all-round *throws the devils horns* ‘extreme dude’ rocked up at the winter sports resort of Tignes to prove that it’s possible to do in a heavily tweaked mini, what the laws of physics would lead us to intuit should be impossible for any forward-moving vehicle.

Chicherit pulled off the first such manoeuvre ever performed in a car using a static ramp, the driver and his MINI coming back down to earth – or, more specifically, a bed of fresh powder snow – unscathed after a perfectly executed backflip on a special prepared track.

The successful airbound stunt crowns an already impressive career in extreme sports for Chicherit. The 34-year-old is equally in his element on snow as he is behind the wheel of a rally car. Four times a freestyle skiing world champion, he has also won the French rally championship on two occasions. The Frenchman is also a veteran of the X-raid Team (which wrapped up back-to-back Dakar Rally titles in January 2013 with the MINI ALL4 Racing), having made his debut for the German outfit back in 2006. In 2011 Chicherit was in the driver’s seat as the MINI ALL4 Racing turned its first wheels in South America for the world’s toughest rally.

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